Eighth celebrity eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing

Actress Alex Kingston has become the eighth celebrity to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing.

The Doctor Who star and her professional dance partner Johannes Radebe have left the show after losing the dance battle to EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon.

The couples performed their routines from Saturday night, with Kingston and Radebe dancing their cha cha cha to Anita Ward’s Ring My Bell.

They failed to make it through to the quarter-final after the majority of the judges chose to save Sopal and Caillon, who danced a jive to Right Back Where We Started From by Maxine Nightingale.

Sunday-night’s leaderboard was the first to have extra points from the brand new instant dance challenge, which offered a maximum of six additional points to the team who impressed the judges the most.

Following the performances, the judges cast their vote, with Anton Du Beke choosing to save Kingston and Radebe while Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse saved Sopal and Caillon.

Head judge Shirley Ballas, who had the casting vote this week, decided to also save Sopal and Caillon, securing their place in Strictly’s musicals week.

When asked about her time on the show, Kingston said: “I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would last this long.

“It’s been just the most incredible journey for me.

“I feel quite proud of myself because I’ve loved the process, I mean 100%, you can tell by my smile. Everyone always says that their dance partner is a friend for life, but JoJo really will be.”

Radebe added: “I’ve never grinned as much as I have in the last few weeks. Thank you Alex for being a trooper, I will hold on to the memories. As far as the dancing goes, I think we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve.

“These memories are just the beginning for us, we can say that we are very much a Strictly family.”

Sunday’s results show also featured a rumba by the professionals to Wicked Game by Grace Carter, choreographed by Oti Mabuse and Marius Lepure.

Singer Myles Smith also performed his song Stay (If You Wanna Dance) which was accompanied by professional dancers Kai Widdrington and Karen Hauer.

The remaining five couples will return to the Strictly dancefloor on Saturday for Musicals Week quarter-final which will also see them take on another brand new dance challenge, with further details to come.

Strictly Come Dancing will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6.50pm on Saturday followed by the results show on Sunday at 7.45pm.

Published: 30/11/2025 by Radio NewsHub